EU court upholds national restrictions against online gambling

EU court upholds national restrictions against online gambling(EUOBSERVER) The EU’s top court ruled that national governments can uphold domestic restrictions on online gambling and ban foreign websites if the intention is to stop fraud and crime. In a case brought by Austrian online betting provider Bwin against the Portuguese state lottery, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that the state monopoly’s restrictions ‘may be regarded as justified by the objective of combating fraud and crime. The ruling is a setback for online gambling groups, which have been pushing for an EU-wide open market in this field.